Twilight Shippers Poll

[Cori]

So I thought it was high time for a shipper thread.

I assume most of us ship Bella/Edward but maybe I'm mistaken. Maybe you think that Bella and Jacob would be a better fit or even *shudder gasp* Bella and Mike.

Personally, I'm a Bella/Edward shipper because no other relationship in the books reaches the intensity of their relationship, both in good and bad ways. Plus I am a vamp lover and if a character has a choice between dating a vampire and dating a normal human guy, I always go for the vampire. It's my love for bad boys coming through I guess.

So please state below who do you ship in the Twilight universe and why. Of course you can also talk about other couples even if they are not included in the poll.

Post away!

[Nina]

I voted for Edward, but I just started reading 'Twilight' and I am up to page 280. So, I don't know it it will change when I finish the series. But right know I'm all for Bella & Edward. I love the powerful and dangerous love, although they hug a lot ... but I guess that's allowed for the beginning of a relationship with their first love.

[~M@rie~]

It's Edward & Bella for me. I love their star-crossed romance and how they are both willing to make sacrifices for each other. I also like how they are so different from one another and that they are still perfect together.

[little albatross]

Personally, I'm a Bella/Edward shipper because no other relationship in the books reaches the intensity of their relationship, both in good and bad ways.

Ditto! Plus, she did make a choice. She knows what she's giving up to be with him, but she knows that she still wants to be with him. (And I love them together. )

And because I try to make a joke out of everything...If Jacob wants to tell her that she has to look at all her options, then I would hope that he was prepared for her to give those other boys she completely ignored a chance. Or to watch her go off to college (like she said she would in the beginning, before she thought she had "Plan A") or move back in with Renee when she had the chance and find somebody completely new...I mean, really. They're teenagers. They're still young, even if they're very grown up in some ways.

[Cori]

On the subject of Jacob: I don't get why he feels he is so much superior than Edward, why he would be such a better boyfriend. Yes sure he is partly human but if he really wanted someone normal for Bella, he would have to allow her to date Mike or anybody else who is completely human. IMO Jacob is a hypocrite in this respect. As Bella puts it in Eclipse:

"You know, Jacob, you're awfully self-righteous - considering that you're a werewolf and all."

I get that Jacob hates Edward for various reasons and if he says to Bella that he doesn't want her to date Edward because vampires are the mortal enemies of werewolves, then fine, that's his prerogative (sp?). But saying that she should date somebody normal, somebody human is hypocritical on Jacob's part IMO.

There is also the problem of Jacob not aging. Okay granted he is not immortal but unless he gets his wolfy urges under control (and that won't probably happen for a long time), he does not get older. So whether Bella is dating Edward or Jacob, she will always be the one who gets older and her boyfriend will not.

And then there is the whole imprinting thing. Just because Jacob has not imprinted on a girl so far does not mean that he never will. What if Jacob was dating Bella and then imprinted on another girl?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that things wouldn't exactly be easier for Bella if she dated Jacob.

[Leloo]

EDWARD FOR THE WIN

There is also the problem of Jacob not aging. Okay granted he is not immortal but unless he gets his wolfy urges under control (and that won't probably happen for a long time), he does not get older. So whether Bella is dating Edward or Jacob, she will always be the one who gets older and her boyfriend will not.

At least with Edward, he could make her not age too. If he wanted to

And then there is the whole imprinting thing. Just because Jacob has not imprinted on a girl so far does not mean that he never will. What if Jacob was dating Bella and then imprinted on another girl?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that things wouldn't exactly be easier for Bella if she dated Jacob.

No, I think it would be worse for her! I don't think Jacob is in as much control over his situation as Edward is over his, afterall Edward has had almost a century of practice and Jacob has had what? A few months? A year at most. So he could easily pull a Sam if he lost control and he doesnt have a doctor at handy to patch her up
And yeah the whole imprinting thing. Jacob is so selfish for even asking Bella to choose him because he will imprint on someone one day. Isn't that inevitable for the wolves? So what, he plans on having two?

[KingofCretins]

And because I try to make a joke out of everything...If Jacob wants to tell her that she has to look at all her options, then I would hope that he was prepared for her to give those other boys she completely ignored a chance. Or to watch her go off to college (like she said she would in the beginning, before she thought she had "Plan A") or move back in with Renee when she had the chance and find somebody completely new...I mean, really. They're teenagers. They're still young, even if they're very grown up in some ways.

Let me say that I would gladly support this -- tell them both to go pike it and return to human life. There are complicating factors, but there are other ways to address those.

On the subject of Jacob: I don't get why he feels he is so much superior than Edward, why he would be such a better boyfriend. Yes sure he is partly human but if he really wanted someone normal for Bella, he would have to allow her to date Mike or anybody else who is completely human. IMO Jacob is a hypocrite in this respect. As Bella puts it in Eclipse:

"You know, Jacob, you're awfully self-righteous - considering that you're a werewolf and all."

Jacob answered this rather capably at the time, though. I don't know the book well enough to find it and quote directly, but the gist was simple enough -- Jacob, as a werewolf, is still essentially a "natural" being. He was born to be what he is, just as surely as albinos are born, as people are born to be athletes or not. A vampire is per se an unnatural life -- it's something inflicted on someone, literally (in this mythology) a poison, an infection. Meyer's werewolfs are superhuman, meta-human, but still essentially flesh and blood human life. Her vampires are inhuman -- their flesh is like granite, we're told repeatedly, they are unlife.

She has a point that he seems to be blowing past certain challenges life with him could pose, but he's not wrong -- there is a substantive difference between what he is and what Edward is.

I get that Jacob hates Edward for various reasons and if he says to Bella that he doesn't want her to date Edward because vampires are the mortal enemies of werewolves, then fine, that's his prerogative (sp?). But saying that she should date somebody normal, somebody human is hypocritical on Jacob's part IMO.

I think Edward does several things that more than reasonably get Jacob upset. For one, that first meeting between them and Bella when everyone is back in town, Edward decides to be, as I called it on VIP, a dicksmack and basically chime in to tell Bella everything Jacob is thinking for no apparent reason than to deprive Jacob the opportunity to speak his own mind.

For another... Edward is a pretty sizable hypocrite himself -- despite the fact that he has gone on at length about how dangerous he is to Bella, despite the fact that his own brother lost control and tried to tear her throat it, he continuously forcibly restrains her from even *visiting* Jacob at La Push, because *Jacob* is too dangerous for her to be around. C'mon. Jacob had to rather boldly spring her from the high school, and Bella escape on her own, in order to even see each other. Jacob is far more willing, between the two, to accept a fair fight for her womanly affections, he's never tried to *refuse her access* to the other suitor.

There is also the problem of Jacob not aging. Okay granted he is not immortal but unless he gets his wolfy urges under control (and that won't probably happen for a long time), he does not get older. So whether Bella is dating Edward or Jacob, she will always be the one who gets older and her boyfriend will not.

Worth noting, perhaps, that he mentions he's at the physical age of 25 already, 7 years ahead of Bella... 7 years is a long time to master his shifting and resume natural aging.

And then there is the whole imprinting thing. Just because Jacob has not imprinted on a girl so far does not mean that he never will. What if Jacob was dating Bella and then imprinted on another girl?

Here we have the one objective problem that being with Jacob would create. But, weigh it -- the very worst thing that happens if Jacob imprints is that they break up. Compare that to the worst thing that can go wrong if Bella and Edward are together? She dies. Perhaps a version where she goes on talking and walking, but dies all the same.

I don't think either of these are "OTP", regardless. When Bella talks about Edward being the one thing she can't live without, I have two problems --

• That is almost frighteningly co-dependent.
• It's apparently *not true* -- he was gone and she was alive, she was coming back to life. Within months, she'd all but completely fallen in love with another boy. She is obviously more resilient than she or Edward are giving her credit for. Yes, she was still having some problems about him that talk therapy would help with, but... most people still have *some* kind of issues about their first love well into adulthood.

I err on the side of her having as many options as possible for as long as possible. And I think the man that loves her most is the one that is going to look at it that way. Kudos to Edward for at least making token efforts to restrain her obsession with becoming a vampire, but they *are* mostly token efforts. You can't tell me sincerely that any of the other 5 (since Rosalie's out) willing to embrace Bella into vampiric life would go against Edward's wishes on this subject if he absolutely demanded. So he has the power here, and merely deciding to 'respect her decision' is as hollow in this context as it would be if she were deciding to start smoking crack.

[aldieb]

For another... Edward is a pretty sizable hypocrite himself -- despite the fact that he has gone on at length about how dangerous he is to Bella, despite the fact that his own brother lost control and tried to tear her throat it, he continuously forcibly restrains her from even *visiting* Jacob at La Push, because *Jacob* is too dangerous for her to be around. C'mon. Jacob had to rather boldly spring her from the high school, and Bella escape on her own, in order to even see each other. Jacob is far more willing, between the two, to accept a fair fight for her womanly affections, he's never tried to *refuse her access* to the other suitor.

I understand what you mean, but still I have to say I think Edward is a lot more caring for her. Jacob is not at all as selfsacrifising, since Edward kind of always tries to see to her needs. Jacob does a lot out of selfreasons, even though he does come along a bit in the end of Eclipse, Edward later realises, and offers that Jacob might be better for her. He always has to make that kind of offer, and did make the selfsacrificing decision (in New Moon) that Jacob never really would.

I love Edward/Bella as a couple! They are hillarious and so deeply intrigued by each other. Edward does so sincerely care fore her and would do whatever it takes for her to be happy. And I don't think he would ever be as captured by another girl, as Jacob might become, if he happens to imprint someone.

Anyway, yay for Edward/Bella and their amazingly amusing relationship!

[Leloo]

the very worst thing that happens if Jacob imprints is that they break up. Compare that to the worst thing that can go wrong if Bella and Edward are together? She dies. Perhaps a version where she goes on talking and walking, but dies all the same.

Ok, so you really think it's better for Bella to be with Jacob, to have her heart ripped out by not being with Edward (which we all know will happen, because it already did once.) But let's say, Jacob really succeeds in healing the hole in Bella's heart. Let's say that over time, the pain she feels goes away because Jacob has healed it. She loves Jacob with all her being (and I think this is the only way she can really love someone truely, she's very intense so for her to actually heal, she has to give herself over to Jacob completely).
So this has happend. Bella's happy with Jacob.

Jacob imprints on someone else.

You think the worst thing that can happen is that they break up? Um.. yeah ok, I actually agree that IS the worst thing that could happen. Because it will spin her right back to square one again, it will rip open that hole, perhaps it will even rip up a bigger one because Bella will be abandoned yet again! By the very guy who promised her he'd always love her and take care of her.

Yeah, not bad at all

[KingofCretins]

Yeah, her heart would be ripped out again by being apart from Edward... and would begin to heal, as it did before*. And it would heal in the company of a man who she says in as many words that if the world (not her, not Edward, the world) were what it should be, that she would be with... right around the time that she silently agrees with the always-negative metaphor of a drug addiction for her relationship with Edward.

As opposed to... dying. Well, yeah, dumped beats dying. Like, every time. Not merely dying, either -- I'm very fond of Jacob's completely accurate description of what it means to become a vampire, a description that stands uncontested by anything any of the Cullens have said about it, and explicitly confirmed by several.

"... letting her heart stop and her skin ice over and her mind twist into some crystallized predator's head. A monster. A stranger."

Or... she could risk the *possibility* that she breaks up with Jacob... which is a possibility with Edward as well, regardless of the meager protests of first love. Accept to face that risk with Edward, she must first give up everything worthy about existing at all.

I had this conversation with Cori earlier, but that's a lot to go to bat for with all the experience and wisdom of her 18 years. And, I paraphrase myself, the human comedy of it is that even if she were to become a vampire, she's not promised a single extra day in Edward's company than she has now. She could be killed being changed. Another posse of vampires or the Volturi could decide they are upset by the delay and kill her or kill him. Or, as people do, they could just... a few months, years, decades later, decide it's off.

It's like she'd have everything negative about being human, but none of the positive

*I am cooking up a really lengthy exegesis about Bella's process during that long stretch of "New Moon", from a psychological standpoint, and why she didn't experience one blessed thing that regular people who *aren't* missing the uber-leet-love-of-forever don't go through when they get dumped. She reacted to a normal situation like a normal girl.

[Cori]

Jacob answered this rather capably at the time, though. I don't know the book well enough to find it and quote directly, but the gist was simple enough -- Jacob, as a werewolf, is still essentially a "natural" being. He was born to be what he is, just as surely as albinos are born, as people are born to be athletes or not. A vampire is per se an unnatural life -- it's something inflicted on someone, literally (in this mythology) a poison, an infection. Meyer's werewolfs are superhuman, meta-human, but still essentially flesh and blood human life. Her vampires are inhuman -- their flesh is like granite, we're told repeatedly, they are unlife.

She has a point that he seems to be blowing past certain challenges life with him could pose, but he's not wrong -- there is a substantive difference between what he is and what Edward is.

Yes there is a difference but I still maintain that dating Jacob would pose a danger for Bella as well. Forget about the imprinting thing for a minute and how that would break Bella's heart, what about Jacob hurting Bella physically because he couldn't control himself? As we have seen with Emily, it takes only one second for a werewolf not to have full control of himself and somebody gets hurts.

As Sam says to Bella in New Moon:

Sam: "You saw this morning how easily things can get dangerous here, how quickly they get out of hand. If you choose to stay with us, I can't make any guarantees about your safety."

Or as Jacob himself puts it, also in New Moon:

Jacob: "Feeling like I can't be sure of myself - like maybe you shouldn't be around me, like nobody should. Like I'm a monster who might hurt somebody."

I think Edward does several things that more than reasonably get Jacob upset. For one, that first meeting between them and Bella when everyone is back in town, Edward decides to be, as I called it on VIP, a dicksmack and basically chime in to tell Bella everything Jacob is thinking for no apparent reason than to deprive Jacob the opportunity to speak his own mind.

I agree with you there. Edward can be an ass sometimes, especially if he is so overprotective of Bella. I'm not denying that he has flaws, I never have. It makes his character that much more likeable IMO. If he was as flawless on the inside as he is on the outside, I would be bored with his character pretty quickly. However, you don't seem to find hardly any flaws in Jacob and I'm just trying to point out that he is not perfect either. Nobody is, whether you are a human being, a vampire or a werewolf!

For another... Edward is a pretty sizable hypocrite himself -- despite the fact that he has gone on at length about how dangerous he is to Bella, despite the fact that his own brother lost control and tried to tear her throat it, he continuously forcibly restrains her from even *visiting* Jacob at La Push, because *Jacob* is too dangerous for her to be around. C'mon. Jacob had to rather boldly spring her from the high school, and Bella escape on her own, in order to even see each other. Jacob is far more willing, between the two, to accept a fair fight for her womanly affections, he's never tried to *refuse her access* to the other suitor.

As I said above, Edward can be an ass with his overprotectiveness and I'm glad that Bella does not listen to him all the time and makes her own choices about Jacob. Oh and Jacob has never refused her access to Edward? Of course he hasn't, how exactly would he go about doing that?

Worth noting, perhaps, that he mentions he's at the physical age of 25 already, 7 years ahead of Bella... 7 years is a long time to master his shifting and resume natural aging.

Yeah well physical age and emotional age are not the same. Also, I'm not sure that he would be able to master his wolfy urges withing 7 years. Isn't it mentioned somewhere that werewolves only do that when they become older men? I might be wrong but I think I read that somewhere.

Here we have the one objective problem that being with Jacob would create. But, weigh it -- the very worst thing that happens if Jacob imprints is that they break up. Compare that to the worst thing that can go wrong if Bella and Edward are together? She dies. Perhaps a version where she goes on talking and walking, but dies all the same.

I don't think either of these are "OTP", regardless. When Bella talks about Edward being the one thing she can't live without, I have two problems --

• That is almost frighteningly co-dependent.

• Okay I agree with you there. I also don't like how addicted Bella is to Edward, that he is her whole life and she hardly thinks of anything or anyone else. It is definitely not healthy, neither is her constantly putting down herself and worshipping the ground Edward walks on. This is one of reasons why Bella is not one of my favourite characters.
  
  

• It's apparently *not true* -- he was gone and she was alive, she was coming back to life. Within months, she'd all but completely fallen in love with another boy. She is obviously more resilient than she or Edward are giving her credit for. Yes, she was still having some problems about him that talk therapy would help with, but... most people still have *some* kind of issues about their first love well into adulthood.